Wise Girl And Skull Head
by Xizuma
Summary: Annabeth Chase knew a lot of things, and knew how to handle a lot of situations well, being a daughter of Athena; that didn't come as a surprise. So, when spending a night alone in the buzzing streets of New York city, she came across one very particular mystery, weirder than even some of the things she had seen. That was the night the Wise Girl met the Skull Head. HumanNaruto.
1. Chapter 1

**So, when writing the new chapter of RTH. I decided to postpone in publishing the chapter to make this story that'll probably remain a Two-Shot since I just did this out of the blue.**

 **This was mostly made because of the title, which actually kinda made me laugh out loud even if it isn't really that funny.**

 **This takes place during the beginning of the Battle Of The Labyrinth.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the PJO books. Each franchise or series, belong to their respective owners.**

 **Enjoy, the (probably) Two-Shot of,**

 **WISE GIRL AND SKULL HEAD**

* * *

Annabeth Chase was having a bad day.

Scratch that, she was having one of the _worst_ days of her life. She and Percy were supposed to go to the movies after his orientation day at his new school, Goode. Their plans, however, were interrupted when the Seaweed Brain did one of the stupidest, and frustrating ideas of all time.

He blew up the school.

Okay, she was exaggerating a bit.

Percy blew up _part_ of the school.

Technically, he did it in self-defense, having to fight two monsters, empousai, to be specific, who took forms of cheerleaders. That, she could forgive, any demigod or demigoddess were often targeted, so much so that it had become a daily routine for some.

But, when she saw him escaping with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a mortal girl no less. Her feelings of annoyance and irritation just grew.

Until finally, it reached the breaking point to where she, and Percy had a fight.

The two decided to go their separate ways to cool off.

Fine with her. Seaweed Brain could go find his own way to camp!

She growled lowly.

"Stupid Kelp Head." Annabeth grumbled as she walked (I.E. Stomped) through the sidewalks of New York.

It was clear by the looks people gave her, her anger was showing.

The fourteen year-old sighed silently.

She needed to calm down, maybe read a book or two.

A visit to the library sounded like a good idea.

* * *

"Lose him already!"

The frustrated voice rung out as the truck sped through the New York City streets. The tries furiously screeched in protest as the vehicle swerved left to right, narrowly missing the other cars that drove by the vehicle at a moderate pace.

The driver, a boy no older than sixteen, dressed in a Kevlar vest, used mostly by authorities, over an orange shirt, glared at the back, his black eyes trying to stay focused on the road whilst he tried to bore hole to the other teen standing on the trunk of the trunk he drove.

Another teen sat beside him, wearing the same attire as the driver as he held a sheathed sword to his side, gripping it tightly.

"I'm trying okay!" The driver yelled back.

Their third companion stayed silent, his right shakily holding the rifle he had, while his left hand desperately covered the wound on his side, which slowly started to stain his shirt. Blue eyes frantically darted from every corner, as if expecting to see something pop out from the darkness.

The four looked terrified, even as the teen on the trunk held a rocket launcher, while the driver himself, had a sheathed sword just beside him, the weapon occupying the passenger seat.

"If we don't outrun that… _thing_ , Castellan will have our heads!" The teen beside the driver reminded.

"Don't you think I know that?!"

The teen on the back didn't respond to his fellow demigod's shout, also ignoring his companion at the trunk. His red eyes solely focused on the empty road behind him.

A powerful roar was heard, and the teen started to pale rapidly.

This was supposed to be easy! Infiltrate camp Half-Blood, find a possible entrance to invade said camp, and report back to Castellan, easy right? Right?

Wrong.

Before they even managed to reach half of New York, this… _thing_ followed them, hunting them down as if it was Artemis herself.

Relentlessly chasing them as if they were prey.

They were.

* * *

Annabeth stuffed her hand in her jean's pocket, while adjusting her camp shirt as she walked out of the library, and into the New York sidewalk.

She blinked, looking at the black sky that was dotted with stars.

Looks like she was in that library longer than she thought.

She huffed, rubbing her arms in an attempt to help her get warm. It was rather chilly tonight.

As she walked through the ever busy streets of New York, Annabeth reflected on the fight she had with the son of Poseidon, and started reviewing her actions as guilt seeped in.

"… Maybe I had been a bit too harsh." She admitted to herself.

She sighed.

Maybe the Seaweed Brain deserved an apology.

With that thought in mind, Annabeth started to raise her hand with a drachma in her grasp.

Screeching of tires were heard, before—

"Aah!"

With a startled yelp, the daughter of Athena jumped back in shock, her grey eyes quickly traveling to the speeding truck that nearly ran her over.

Her eyes widened when she got a look on the orange shirt that the passengers had on the trunk, and the weapons that they held, or sheathed at their side.

Worry started to overcome her.

Did Luke already plan an attack?!

The thought started a train of worrying thoughts that only worsened Annabeth.

She had to stop this.

The girl started to run to the speeding vehicle's direction, kinda easy, seeing as they left tire tracks for her to follow.

Just as she took another step, she stopped.

She could stop this… or warn Chiron at camp.

Annabeth's hand which held a drachma, started to raise again.

' _But what if I'm too late?'_

Her hand stopped mid-way.

' _I could stop them right now.'_ She reasoned.

' _What if I get outnumbered?'_ The thought worried her.

Annabeth bit her lip, and her head looked at the street the vehicle drove through.

It was now or never.

With that, the girl ran towards the street, following the tire tracks.

* * *

The demigod driver breathed erratically as the feeling of panic started to grow more and more as he constantly switched his gaze towards the rear view mirror, and the road ahead.

His companions weren't fairing any better, all of them panicking as much as the driver.

Suddenly, the car lurched forward, and the three demigods did the same in surprise before the driver got control of the wheel once again.

One of the tires popped.

The driver gritted his teeth, and forced the steering wheel to the right, turning a corner as he did.

The hood of the car started smoking.

Before the car turned, and stopped, right in the middle of an empty three-way intersection.

"Fuck, this is bad…" The wounded demigod muttered silently, groaning slightly as he held his bloodied side.

"You alright?"

"I-I can manage."

The three looked around the quiet street.

Never noticing the oil leaking from their vehicle.

The driver stuck his head out of the window and looked at the other demigods, jerking his head as he did, signaling them. The two on the back nodded, and the wounded demigod got off the broken down vehicle, while the rocket launcher wielding son of Ares stayed on the trunk.

The silence was making things worse.

The lamps suddenly popped and sizzled, following other lamps around the three, startling, and even scaring the demigods more.

A heartbeat passed.

The wounded demigod looked around nervously, looking as if he would jump from the slightest twitch.

A snap was heard.

The teen cried out in alarm, and started firing at a glass window that displayed various trophies, the trophies falling down, and braking. If they weren't riddled with bullets first, that is.

A thud hit the bleeding demigod's ears, and he immediately turned around, only to cry out in shock when an invisible force quickly took hold of his gun, and forcefully knocked it out of his hands.

Before he could retaliate, he was sent down to his knees when a powerful strike hit his legs. The wounded demigod stiffened visibly when he felt cold metal against his neck.

A second passed, before a blonde girl with grey eyes, a daughter of Athena appeared in front of him, holding a blade to his throat, while her other hand held a baseball cap.

"Whose side are you on?!" She immediately demanded, her steel gray eyes boring holes into his own eyes.

Annabeth waited for a response from the downed demigod, her hand holding her celestial bronze knife tightly as she did, afraid that she accidentally might drop it.

A moment passed.

Before the demigod collapsed forward.

The daughter of Athena gave a 'eep!' of alarm, and caught the demigod in time.

She felt something wet and moist on her hand.

The blonde retracted one hand and her eyes widened.

Blood.

Copious amounts of blood.

Annabeth stood up quickly, ignoring the body that she accidentally dropped, which was the least of her worries as horror started to set in her mind.

Who could have done this?

Her eyes darted to the van that was parked when she heard footsteps approaching, only to reveal an elderly woman.

A curse was heard from behind, no doubt from one of the older demigods, and a click of a gun was next.

She ran forward.

"Get back!"

Immediately, bullets sprayed after her, thankfully missing her, hitting the van instead. But Annabeth wasn't worried about that, no, she was worried about getting the elderly to safety.

Quickly, the daughter of Wisdom wrapped her arms around the aging woman, and took cover from the bullets by using the van.

Annabeth crouched down as more bullets whizzed past, looking at the elderly woman in concern.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

The aging woman gave a hesitant nod.

A distant roar of an engine was heard, and Annabeth looked up.

The demigod driver cursed when his AK-47 lost ammo as anger took over, only to be stopped cold, when he heard another roar of an engine he oh, so, desperately wanted to escape.

He looked to the left part of the three-way intersection, seeing as his vehicle was in the middle.

From the distance, a black, and silver blur slowly started to appear.

Fear that settled deep within the demigod's heart started to grow, as the blur started to take shape.

Soon, the blur started to get closer, revealing to be a car, a black '69 Dodge Charger.

It suddenly stopped.

The two demigods and one demigoddess, watched with baited silence as the car just stood there.

Suddenly, it roared once again, the car's tires screeching fiercely on the pavement, smoke getting generated from the back wheels.

And with that, the Charger soon went forward once again, not stopping this time. To Annabeth, it looked like it was heading for their direction.

To the two demigods, it was heading for them.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Annabeth heard the teen on the trunk curse, looking at the driver with a panicked look on his face, his red eyes switching from the Charger, to the driver.

"Don't just stand there, shoot it!" The driver barked with the same look in his eyes.

Annabeth briefly wondered what happened to them to give them such a reaction from just seeing a car.

The teen swallowed heavily, and aimed carefully.

Then fired.

The rocket hit its target.

And the Charger flipped over.

Annabeth thought that was the end of that, the car would flip, and get destroyed, end of story.

How wrong she was.

To her shock, the car's engine and front tires caught fire as it flipped. As it landed, so too, did the Charger's back tires also started to burn.

The Charger's engine roared once again, this time, the sound was enhanced, louder, and… somehow, to Annabeth, demonic.

The now flaming Charger briefly swerved from left to right as it landed, before getting back on track, and resuming its pursuit. The car seemingly faster than before, already nearing the broken down truck in seconds.

The demigod on the trunk saw this, and immediately, he leapt out just as the Charger crashed with the truck.

Smart man.

Annabeth flinched and shielded her eyes as the truck skidded away with the hellish Charger.

The oil that had been leaking from the broken down vehicle made contact with the flaming car's fire that trailed after it.

A crooked line of flames, bright, and burning, blocked the path, stopping Annabeth, who had plans to investigate.

Annabeth saw a teen, not the driver, coming out of the passenger side, stumbling as he did, before he unsheathed a celestial blade in his hand, he glared at what the blonde assumed to be the driver of the flaming Charger, and swung his celestial blade at the unseen driver.

From what she could see at her position, Annabeth only had a glimpse of a gloved hand took hold of the blade without any sign of pain.

Before melting the bronze blade with his gloved hand.

Both the teen and Annabeth gaped in shock, their eyes staring at the melted blade, which was now only a handle that fell on the ground.

The now, unarmed demigod stumbled, and fell down. Annabeth flinched again, when the demigod's terrified scream rung out as he was suddenly pulled out of sight.

"N-No!" The rocket launcher wielding demigod whimpered as he slowly back away on the ground, the driver doing nothing but staring at the events unfolding in front of him.

Annabeth walked forward hesitantly, and stopped suddenly when she heard a sickening crunch, followed by a snap.

Blood sprayed on the driver's face.

Hastily grabbing the handle of the door, the demigod quickly got out, blindly flailing about as he did, his fellow demigod's blood on his face.

A gloved fist met his face, and the demigod was out cold.

He was soon slowly dragged away by the legs, and thrown in a trunk.

As the fire danced, blocking Annabeth's path, she could only watch as… _something_ or _someone_ dragged the unconscious demigod to the back of the Charger.

She only saw a flaming head, before it disappeared into the interior of the burning muscle car.

The daughter of Athena watched, as the flaming vehicle reversed, before turning around completely, and heading away.

Annabeth stayed there, her mind replaying what transpired not too long ago.

Sirens filled the air, which snapped the girl out of her thoughts. She hurriedly left the area, as NYPD vehicles started to enter.

Turning to an ally, the girl quietly hid behind a dumpster, not making a noise. After a few moments, Annabeth stood up, and quickly left the ally.

Her eyes traveled to the flaming trails that marked the road, which lead to the north of New York.

The girl's eyes narrowed.

Whoever did this, must be know about the Greek Gods. She needed to determine if he, she or what is on who's side.

She needed to get to the bottom of this.

* * *

Annabeth followed the trail, all over New York, which took her almost an hour.

Which all led back to a Junkyard.

"Found you." She muttered.

She walked past the dirt, destroyed vehicles, and scraps that littered the area, not to mention rats scurrying to the corners whenever she would spot one of them.

Soon, she came across a medium-sized shed, where a figure closed the doors.

He looked to be the same age as her, maybe older by a year or so. Golden, spikey, hair was what she saw, though, the vibrant color, looked dull with where they were in, a contrast to the gray and black that surrounded the junkyard

Next thing she noticed, was whisker marks on his face, three thin lines on each cheek, giving the blonde a fox-like look.

He was muscled and lean, having a similar body structure of a son of Apollo, a black leather jacket that looked dirtied and messy, a white, rectangular logo emblazoned on the middle of the jacket, blue, faded, blue jeans were next, before it was finished off with dirty, black sneakers.

"Excuse me." She approached him.

The blonde closed the gates, and turned his head towards her.

Cold, cerulean, eyes greeted her own grey.

It was a stark difference, that sort-of reminded her of Percy's own blue-ish, eyes.

He stepped away from the shed and approached her, and stopped in front of her.

"Yard's closing," The whiskered blonde informed, "If you wanna sell something, call the number on the gate." He jerked his thumb towards the sign.

"O-oh no, no," Annabeth frantically waved her hands, an embarrassed look on her face, "I'm not here for that, sorry if I got misunderstood. What's your name?" She asked.

The whiskered blonde raised an eyebrow.

"… Naruto."

"Oh, well, Naruto." Annabeth started, "I am looking for a guy who rode a black ninety sixties muscle car." She informed, "He might have bought some parts here."

"Sorry," Naruto said after a moment, stuffing his gloved hands in his jacket pockets. "Doesn't ring a bell, sorry." He shrugged.

"I only work nights, once a week."

"Oh." Annabeth nodded her head, "Then, do you mind if I take a look around here or…?" She started, her head already turning towards the spare parts.

"Or." The whiskered blonde suddenly said, prompting the daughter of wisdom to face him. "There's a book of sales in the main office," He said, "Well. Not really an office, more of a trailer really, I could show you."

"That… would be great." Annabeth started. "I'll be grateful if you can."

The blonde nodded, "This way."

The rest of the walk was silent as he led he demigoddess towards the office. As they approached the small office, Annabeth soon took the lead.

"… Used to live here?" The whiskered blonde suddenly asked.

Annabeth shook her head, "No. Just visiting a friend."

"Makes you wonder why someone your age is going into a Junkyard…" Annabeth heard the blonde mutter.

She rounded on the blonde, "Aren't you doing the same? Going to this Junkyard, I mean." Annabeth retorted, "You look to be at least close to my age, so it's questionable for a minor to be working in a Junkyard of all places." The girl said.

"Touché." Naruto conceded to her point.

"Still. Pretty weird for you to go here, late at the night."

A jingle of metal was heard from behind.

Annabeth stopped.

"Not a great neighborhood."

The blonde stopped behind the girl.

The daughter of Athena slowly turned around.

And spotted the car keys in his hand.

Naruto's carefree expression changed into a serious one.

Just as he was about to strike, Annabeth was quick, while she may not be the best at hand-to-hand, she was still decent. With a strong kick, the girl managed to send the whiskered blonde flying, and crashing to a few piles of scraps at the side.

Naruto cracked his neck, before taking out a small, metal beam, from a barrel at the side.

"So," The whiskered blonde took a stance, his once cerulean eyes, changed color, turning to a burning, yellow and orange shade as the beam he held started to catch fire.

"You think you can take me on?"

"I know, I can." Annabeth stated.

Then they charged at each other.

Both blondes traded blow for blow. Naruto took a swing at the demigoddess, only for Annabeth to dodge and strike him in the chest. The blonde grunted, and charged at her, the daughter of wisdom already had her celestial knife ready, and slashed at him.

The whiskered blonde leaned to the side, as to avoid the attack, and placed a good kick, sending the girl tumbling away.

Annabeth quickly recovered, and grabbed her cap, before putting it on. Carefully sneaking around the confused, but alert Naruto.

A moment passed.

Naruto suddenly lurched forward, before flipping entirely, and landed on the ground harshly. He was suddenly pulled up, and pushed towards a steel support, and felt cold metal on his neck.

He tensed.

A second later, the daughter of Athena appeared.

"H-How-?"

The blade got nearer Naruto's neck.

The whiskered blonde gritted his teeth.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved." Naruto growled.

"I'm the one asking questions here." Annabeth stated coldly, her hand gripping her knife tightly.

"You killed those demigods, why? Are you with the gods, or against us?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "Girl, I've been asked similar questions by assholes with the same kind of weapons as yours, let me repeat what I said to them."

He cleared his throat.

"I. Don't. Know. What. You're. Talking. About."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "You're a killer." She accused.

Naruto gave her a cheeky grin. "I only kill those who deserve it."

"It's vengeance, that's all there is to it."

Annabeth slapped Naruto.

The daughter of Athena hung her head, before looking back at the whiskered blonde.

"You're just like Luke."

She kicked the blonde hard, sending him crashing down with a few barrels.

Anger consumed the daughter of Athena as she glared daggers at the downed blonde.

"What gives you the right to decide who lives, and who dies?!"

Naruto got into a crouch as he tried to stand up. He looked back at the daughter of wisdom as his eyes started turning into the same burning color she saw it briefly turn before.

He muttered one last thing.

"I'm not the one who decides."

Naruto started to cringe, as his face started heating up, he flinched and looked down, his skin and hair burning off into ashes, as his skull started to appear.

Annabeth widened her eyes and gasped.

When Naruto turned to look at her again, she was horrified.

Half of his face was burned off, leaving his skull for he to see. Soon, his entire face was nothing but scattering ashes, while his skull was what was left.

His skull had two fiery glowing lines for each side, while the middle had two lines that connected to a 'U' shape, as the middle trailed down, making it a 'Y' shape.

Two, orange, glowing orbs glared menacingly at Annabeth, as he stood up.

Annabeth took a step back, her celestial knife ready, as she took a stance.

She felt like being in Hades' presence all over again, but to a lesser degree.

Naruto, the skeleton… whatever he turned into, stood up, before going over to a rusted car, and with his new found strength, removed the bumper with absolute ease. The separated part caught fire, and the flaming skeleton charged at the daughter of wisdom.

Annabeth hastily dodged the burning skeleton's slow, but dangerous swings, ducking over another swing, Annabeth, with all her might, shoved the skeleton, it didn't make him tumble, sure, but it did make him drop the bumper.

The fiery skeleton growled.

The daughter of Athena attempted to attack, only for the skeleton to grab her hand which held her knife easily, even lifting her up when he inspected the weapon, soon, the skeleton stopped, and slapped it out of her hands.

Before Annabeth could react, she gave a strangled cry, when the flaming skeleton grabbed her by the neck, slowly chocking her as he did. The skull leered at her, his orange orbs staring back into her grey's. As she gave out more strangled gasps, the skeleton tilted his skull, mocking her.

Then, he threw her.

Annabeth landed with a gasp, as she held her neck and greedily sucked in oxygen.

The roar of an engine caught her attention, and the girl looked forward.

She was helpless as she watched the flaming skeleton drive away.

After ten minutes of resting, Annabeth stood up, and sighed deeply.

She needed to tell this to Chiron.

* * *

 **Review! Constructive criticism is also good, give suggestions, advice, etc. Anything really.**

 **See Ya.**


	2. Chapter 2

**After reading your reviews, I might make this more than a two-shot. I'm still on the fence though.**

 **Someone PM'd me about what the pairings are, and I don't have any clue, send some suggestions, I'm willing to hear it.**

 **Goddess as possible choices are a no for me, though.**

 **Disclaimer: Who the fuck actually reads this, anyway?**

 **Enjoy, the Might-Be-A-Full-On-Story of,**

 **WISE GIRL AND SKULL HEAD**

* * *

"You sure you're okay, Annabeth?"

Said blonde rolled her eyes, glancing to the person walking beside her in irritation.

"Do I have to repeat myself for the nth time? Yes, I'm fine, Seaweed Brain." She huffed, crossing her arms and re-focused her attention on the path they were taking.

"Just wanted to check, Wise Girl." Percy frowned, slightly confused at the way the daughter of Athena sounded. He was just worried for her, after all, seeing your best friend coming back to camp, looking shaken, and slightly scared, would worry him.

"Where are you going anyway?" The son of Poseidon asked.

"I just… need to talk to Chiron about something, Percy." Annabeth said, rubbing her arm, the feeling of uneasiness setting within the back of her mind at the memory of her near-death experience.

The went silent as they walked through camp Half-Blood, Annabeth distracting herself by watching other demigods doing various activities as the sun shone brightly in the early morning.

She was still recovering from her injuries the last night.

Soon, they reached the Big House. As the daughter of wisdom took one step up the stairs, Percy called out to her.

"Wise Girl!"

Annabeth turned to look at him.

"If you need me, I'll just be at the arena with Tyson."

The blonde gave a grateful nod, and proceeded to continue on.

Annabeth reached the end of the Big House's porch, where a man with a body of a white stallion from the waist down stood, his back facing her as he hummed a soft tune.

"Chiron?"

The centaur looked at her, and smiled kindly.

"Do you need anything, Annabeth?" Chiron asked, turning completely to face the young demigoddess.

"I-I… need to talk to you, about why I came back so late last night." Annabeth bit her lip, looking down as she did.

Chiron's eyes softened, walking up to the girl, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Come. Sit," The centaur gestured towards a card table where a chair sat.

The blonde girl nodded hesitantly, and sat down on the chair as Chiron stood across from her, a worried look on his face.

After the two settled, Annabeth quickly told the centaur the events that transpired last night, from the demigods that were on Luke's side, to her confrontation with the mysterious whiskered blond in the junkyard.

"… And that's what happened." She concluded her story to the centaur.

Chiron had a frown on his face when he heard the events, his arms crossed as he thought.

A moment passed, before he sighed.

"From what you told me, I'm suspecting the young lad to be a demigod." Chiron theorized.

"That's the thing…" Annabeth started, "When I said the word to him, he genuinely looked as if he never heard of it before."

"Oh my…" Chiron frowned softly. "For a boy to not know his heritage in his age."

"A son of Hephaestus, maybe?" Annabeth suggested, to which the centaur hummed.

"Possibly, if his control over fire is what you told me to be." Chiron nodded, "Then again… if he transformed into that…"

"I've never seen any children of Hephaestus turn into… _that_." Annabeth said, her mind going back to the burning skeleton that she fought last night, "Or any demigod, for that matter."

"True." Chiron said, he looked at the girl with curious eyes. "What are you going to do now, Annabeth?"

"I need to find him." The girl said, looking down, "He needs to pay for the things he did." The daughter of Athena said, standing up.

"Annabeth, while I may normally not do this, I need you to reconsider this course of action you're going to take." Chiron said with worried eyes. "From how your last meeting with him went…"

Sadly, the blonde shook her head, "I'm sorry, Chiron, but you can't sway me from this." She said determinedly.

Chiron sighed.

"Very well, I know I can't change your mind when you set your heart to things." Chiron started, knowing very well how the young demigoddess tend to be. "I want you to be wary of this 'Naruto' boy." He warned.

"Do not take him lightly."

Annabeth nodded.

"So, what are you going to do first?" Chiron asked.

* * *

The buzzing streets of New York wasn't new for Annabeth, having gotten used to it. Currently, she sat down at a bench, blending herself within the people that walked the sideways daily.

She paid no mind to the people that walked by her as they went about their daily lives, her steel gray eyes focused on the place she previously visited the last night.

The Junkyard.

It was her first thought to go here, where the mysterious blonde worked, by luck, she could hopefully find him, and find him there.

Beside the junkyard, was a blue auto-body shop.

' _Possible location he might frequent?'_ She thought to herself.

Just a second later, he appeared, his jacket opened, an orange shirt beneath it.

' _There you are.'_ She narrowed her eyes at the whiskered blonde across her, standing at the sidewalk, just in front of the shop he previously entered.

' _But not at the main entrance.'_ Annabeth remembered, _'Might be a worker there.'_ She listed down the note on a small pad she took with her.

The daughter of Athena waited, as the whiskered blonde just stood there, doing nothing.

Was he waiting for something?

* * *

Naruto sighed and rolled his head a bit, feeling satisfaction when a small crack was heard as he stood. Last night made him a bit sore, having to fight the girl, especially when she flipped him over, which really hurt.

Luckily, he healed fast.

' _Still.'_ The blonde frowned as he rubbed the cheek the blonde remembered her hitting. _'Need to watch my back, first time I got caught.'_

He couldn't allow that to happen again.

A honk caught his attention.

From the side, a car pulled up from the side, and the blonde smiled.

"Onii-san!" He heard a voice cry out from the passenger seat.

He grinned, approaching the door, and opened it.

A small girl sat at the passenger's seat. Golden hair the same shade as his, albeit lighter, was tied into pig tails. Her violet eyes lit up in happiness when she saw him approach, her smile broadening by the second.

"Imouto." The whiskered blonde greeted back as the girl engulfed him in a hug. The two separated shortly after, and Naruto looked up at the driver as he stood up.

"How's life for you, gran?" He asked.

Platinum blonde hair trailed down the woman's face as she held the wheel. Her brown eyes shifting from the road, to the blonde at the side.

She gave a smirk. "Been treating me fine, brat." The woman said, "You're keeping yourself out of trouble, right?" She gave him a critical eye that said 'If you lie, I'll make sure you won't be seeing tomorrow'.

Naruto laughed nervously, "Doing my best, granny Tsunade." He said unsurely. He walked behind the vehicle and towards the trunk.

He grabbed the trunk's handle with one hand, and lifted it, grasping two metal crutches from the compartment. Naruto tilted his head and inspected the medical crutches that looked shiner than he last saw them.

"These new?"

"Yeah!" Tsunade yelled from the front, "The squirt's old crutches been wearing out, thought I could help out, so I gave her a new one after her check-up." She informed, ignoring her goddaughter's cry of protest.

"That's good to hear." Setting the new crutches on the side of the vehicle, Naruto walked back towards the little blonde in the passenger's seat, who was bouncing in excitement.

"Calm down would you, Mito?"

Naruto chuckled as he gently lifted his little sister in a bridal carry. Mito pouted as her brother helped her with her new crutches.

Mito carefully held the handles of her black crutches, slowly, she tried to take a step forward.

And nearly tripped.

"Aah!"

Thankfully, her big brother was there to save her, like he would always do.

"Watch yourself! Imouto." Naruto nearly yelled as he caught his little sister before she could fall.

"S-Sorry, Onii-san." Mito sheepishly apologized, trying to balance herself.

As he held his little sister by the arms, Naruto turned his head to Tsunade and gave her a thankful smile.

"Thanks for dropping her off, gran."

Tsunade gave Naruto a dismissive wave in response.

"Think nothing of it, brat." She said, watching Mito, who tried getting used to her new crutches, taking baby steps as she did. "Just make sure to bring Mito to the hospital for her check-up every month."

Naruto nodded, before he frowned, briefly glancing at his little sister, before sighing.

"… How's her condition?"

The old blonde gave a frown of her own.

"As of now? She hasn't been showing much improvement since last month, sure, she can walk, but it's bare at best."

"Oh…" Naruto trailed off. His shoulders slumped, and his head hung low, the feeling of self-loathing and disappointment slowly setting within his mind as he clenched his fist.

It was his fault her little sister was like this, barely able to walk.

"Goddamn it." Naruto muttered.

Tsunade glared at the whiskered blonde, "Don't beat yourself up, brat." She said softly, "That accident was not your fault," The woman sighed, and looked at Naruto.

"You need to stop blaming yourself."

The air felt heavy, at least, to Naruto it felt heavy.

He was glad his little sister intervened.

"Onii-san!" Mito called out, tugging at the blonde's jacket. Naruto turned to look at her.

"Imouto?"

Mito pouted at Naruto, "Can we go already?" She practically begged, "I'm hungry…"

Never underestimate the hyperactivity of a twelve year-old.

Naruto chuckled, his previous mood lifted from Mito's interruption, and patted her head affectionately. "You and your stomach." He said with a laugh.

"You two have that in common." Tsunade smirked.

"True." Naruto nodded.

"Mou…" Mito whined, trying to look angry at them, sadly, all it did was make the two laugh.

"Well, I'll be off. You two brats keep out of trouble, ya hear?"

"Trouble finds me, gran." Naruto grinned back at her.

As their godmother drove off, Naruto supported Mito as they walked.

"So, up for Ramen?"

Mito nodded eagerly as she held on to her crutches.

"You know me so well, Onii-san." She giggled.

"That, I do." Naruto chuckled.

* * *

Steel gray eyes trailed after the two siblings, watching them as they walked away, laughing, without a care in the world.

Annabeth looked down, and sighed softly, her invisibility cap within her looked down at her cap, tracing the symbol on it fondly.

"Looks like everyone's attached to something…"

The girl knew the feeling.

The daughter of wisdom sighed, packing her things with a bag she took with her, and stood up.

She needed more information about him.

* * *

After a few hours of searching, finding records of the whiskered blonde, the daughter of wisdom walked aimlessly in the sidewalks as she held a notebook in one hand, all her gathered research of the mysterious blonde in the small book.

Quickly putting the small notebook back in her bag, the blonde girl continued her way towards her destination.

The auto-body shop.

She approached the man in the front. He was middle-aged, wearing a jumpsuit like the others, and had a small greying beard.

Annabeth cleared her throat, "Excuse me?"

"Well hello there, little lady, do you need something?"

Annabeth smiled at the man in a blue jumpsuit in a friendly demeanor, "Yes, I do." She nodded, "Do you, by chance, know a 'Naruto Uzumaki'?" The girl asked, "I heard he works here."

"Naruto?" The middle aged man blinked. "Yes, he's an employee of mine." He confirmed, to which Annabeth rose a brow at.

"You let minors work for you?"

The man in the jumpsuit sputtered, and waved his hands in defense, "N-No, no! It's just that the boy needs the job, even if I had denied him before, he simply insisted over, and over again." He explained, "It's a part time job, really." The middle aged man added.

"I see…" Annabeth muttered, "Is he currently working?"

"Why, yes, yes he is." The man nodded, and beckoned the girl in the auto-body shop, "Come, I'll show you to him."

"Naruto!" He yelled, his voice louder than the numerous sounds that emitted from the workplace.

Behind a red van, a familiar whiskered blonde appeared, his outfit now a green jumpsuit similar to the man.

"Boss?"

"This little lady here, was looking for you," The manager said, gesturing towards Annabeth, "Do you know her?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes, and his lips tugged to a small frown.

"Yeah, I do."

Annabeth narrowed her own eyes in return.

The manager left, attending to another customer's business.

The whiskered blonde's eye twitched, and he went back to his work, opening the hood of the vehicle he was assigned to, and began to work on it.

"What do you want?" The blonde asked, his cerulean eyes never leaving the interior of the red vehicle. Annabeth stared at the other blonde sternly.

"I want answers."

"Already told you didn't I?" The whiskered blonde retorted.

The daughter of wisdom walked closer to Naruto, watching him work, "Where's your car?" She asked, "Couldn't bring it? Engine caught fire?" Annabeth slyly mocked.

"Yeah, it did." Naruto replied, his eyes briefly glancing at her, he moved from the hood to the side of the van, opening the door.

"How is that not a problem for you?" The grey eyed girl asked.

Naruto stopped, and turned towards her, "I think you should leave that 'problem' to me." He said, "So, you don't get hurt." The whiskered blonde stated.

The blonde slightly leaned closer to Annabeth and whispered. "Or smoked…"

A warning for the daughter of Athena.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, and leaned on the red vehicle.

"You claim the demigods you killed last night earned that." She said, crossing her arms as she watched him sort out the rest of the parts.

"You and that word again…" He muttered, Naruto turned to her, a glare set in place, "Seriously, leave me alone. You may know what I am, but you don't know what I'm capable of—"

A short laugh interrupted him.

"Funny you should mention that," Annabeth smirked, "I was just thinking of how many memories I have of you, Uzumaki." She said cooly, acting as if she known him for years.

Naruto looked at her questioningly.

"Got this 'too cool for school' attitude of yours, you got going on now, but the real you…" She said, her smirk widening as she heard the manager chuckle.

"The lad's not always the strong, silent type?" The manager asked in amusement.

"Well…" Annabeth started, "I've known him since we were kids, he was usually really active, and energetic. He used to have a cheery personality too." The girl said. "He would run around all day in camp with energy left to spare for the night. That is, after your uncle picked you up, right?"

She had already done a small impromptu story in case something like this would ever occur.

"How is your Uncle Orochimaru, by the way?"

Naruto stopped, and looked at her.

"You get lost." He threatened, "Or I'll get angry."

"So angry I may not remember what I'd do with you."

With that, the whiskered blonde exited the van, and went to the side, Annabeth following him as he did.

By now, the manager left the shops interior with another customer, both were discussing details outside, leaving the two blondes alone.

The blonde turned to her, clear irritation written on his face. "What do you want?"

"The people you killed… did they look similar? One way or another?"

Naruto sighed, and rubbed his forehead, "Are we really doing this?" He looked back at her, "If it gets you off my back, yes, they all had orange shirts that looked like yours, and some even had weapons like yours. That all, detective?" He crossed his arms and glared at her. "I told you, it's—"

"Vengeance, I know." The girl finished, rolling her eyes as she did. "Well, your vengeance, puts you on the same track as me, so tell me what you know." She demanded calmly.

"They got what they deserved—end of story." Naruto said simply.

"Fine; then, I'll tell you what I know." Annabeth walked forward, "Luke Castellan is assembling an army to hunt people like us," She gestured towards herself, then to Naruto, "Down, so we don't stand in his way."

"Us?" Naruto regarded her with a dry look.

"Demigods, children of the greek god." Annabeth answered.

"That's not what I am." Naruto denied, shaking his head.

"Look, I know what you're going through, a lot of demigods didn't believe at first, but—"

"You're here to counsel me?" Naruto looked at her, "Stray me from a dark path, save my soul?" He asked.

The daughter of Athena looked stunned.

The whiskered blonde smirked, "I'm telling you, girl, I sold mine."

"What, to the devil?" Annabeth said sarcastically, looking at him with an incredulous look.

Naruto's smirk widened.

"He was the only one buyin' you know?"

He walked closer to her, his figure towering over hers, "Look, I'm done talking, you wanna throw down again, we can do that; I like my chances."

"Wanna turn me in to get punished by your so called 'gods'?" Naruto said the word with sarcasm laced in his tone, "Try it, I got nothing to lose."

Annabeth stood in defiance, "You may not, but Mito, might be sad to lose her big brother…" She warned. "You're all she's got."

In the inside, she winced a little, _'Okay, I may have gone a bit too far on that one.'_

Naruto's eyes hardened, and his jaws clenched.

The metal door opened, and the manager called out, "Naruto? Lad? Listen, I gotta take the truck, drop off the GTO, and Palm Dessert." He reminded.

"Take all the time you need, Boss." Naruto answered, his eyes never leaving the daughter of Athena, who stared back challengingly. "I'll lock up."

"Good, very good."

They heard the door close.

"Now you…" The whiskered blonde said.

Naruto turned his back towards Annabeth, and slowly took out a wrench from a tool box nearby.

"You shouldn't have mentioned my little sister."

He gripped the wrench tightly, and his eyes changed color to the same burning orange and yellow last night.

The wrench caught fire.

Annabeth took a step back.

"It doesn't have to go this way," She slowly backed away, from the approaching blonde.

Naruto took another step towards her, "You're wrong."

Quickly, Annabeth struck, and managed to dodge the whiskered blonde's fiery wrench. The girl took out her dagger, and swung at Naruto, but the whiskered blonde leaned to the side, and gave a swing of his own.

The daughter of Athena ducked, and sent a kick towards his legs, sending Naruto down. With a hard strike to the arm, the whiskered blonde cried out a pained cry, and released the wrench.

Just as Annabeth go for another hit, she was knocked away by a kick from the downed blonde.

The daughter of wisdom took another step back, as she planned her next move. Her eyes widened, when she saw Naruto take a spare car muffler from one of the auto-body shops shelves, and soon, caught fire again.

Acting quickly, she kicked a wooden container.

Naruto simply jumped to the side to avoid the skidding crate, and approached her with the flaming muffler.

He swung at her once, but Annabeth managed to dodge, just as she was about to recover, Naruto quickly swung again, and all the demigoddess could do, was to block using her arm.

A jolt of pain racked her body, and Annabeth collapsed.

She struggled to stand up, and looked up to the whiskered blonde.

Naruto reared his fist back.

And Annabeth only saw darkness.

* * *

 **If you're here to flame or just bad mouth me in general... Do it. Won't really matter, but if want to sure.**

 **See ya.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Another day, another update.**

 **Looks like people actually like this, so; a full story it is!**

 **A lot of people want Annabeth as pairing, huh, didn't see that coming. Usually people would want it to stick to Percabeth, but I see other's suggestions first, before declaring the official pairing.**

 **This is strictly a single pairing, if there ever is a pairing, and I'm going to stick with that.**

 **Disclaimer: Who the fuck actually reads this?**

 **Enjoy, chapter 3 of,**

 **WISE GIRL AND SKULL HEAD**

* * *

"Wake up."

A gasp escaped her mouth.

Annabeth flinched, and woke up immediately, the middle of her forehead feeling slightly sore. Blearily, she opened her eyes, and was greeted by the sight one Naruto Uzumaki, out of his jumpsuit, and now wearing the same attire the night they met. His black jacket zipped all the way up, fully showing the white rectangular emblem on the middle.

Her first instinct was to escape, and that was what she did, or at least; tried to.

No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free of what held her down to the chair she was currently tied in.

Naruto ignored her, opting to go out of the small room she was in, coming back shortly after, holding a blue bag.

"Seen a lot of breaks," He started, unzipping the bag and digging in it. He stopped for a moment and briefly glanced at her, "Your arms fractured, not broken."

Annabeth continued to struggle.

"Try to bust out of that, I can't guarantee it'll stay that way." Naruto said, continuing to sort through the bag.

Just now she noticed who that bag belonged to.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, and grabbed a file from her bag, and opened it, raising an eyebrow as he browsed the contents.

He took something from the file, and showed it to Annabeth.

"Been stalking me?"

It was several photos which the girl took off him a few hours ago, ranging from the whiskered blonde walking around Manhattan, to him working in the auto-body shop where they were currently in.

The daughter of Athena felt her cheeks burn red in embarrassment from the accusing gaze Naruto gave her.

Naruto shook his head in a way that made Annabeth feel even more embarrassment as the blonde continued to browse her bag.

A moment of silence passed.

"You know," Naruto started, his hands shifting inside the girl's bag, "This new for me, I've never been—"

"A kidnapper?" Annabeth snarked, interrupting him.

Naruto gave her a look.

"… Caught." He corrected. "You know who I am, _what_ I am. Which is a problem for the both of us." He said, "A problem that has to go away."

"Threaten me all you want, you think I'm afraid to die?" Annabeth retorted.

"I think you want it." Naruto stated.

"You got a death wish. Coming back to find me after I let you live." He said, his head turning back to the bag. "I feel it, your sins. The things you've done that you weren't proud of."

Naruto turned to look at her, his right eye turning into a burning, orange-ish color that left wisps at the edge of his eye.

Annabeth felt unease as she stared at the fiery orb. Just like before, she felt like she was back in Hades presence once more.

He blinked, and the eye was back to its normal cerulean color. She unknowingly felt relief, as the whiskered blonde turned his head back to her bag, the pressure was lifted from her.

"I just want to find proof, and when I do…" Naruto trailed off.

"My problem goes away."

A subtle threat.

Silence prevailed.

The daughter of Athena stayed quiet, as she tried to find ways to escape, while Naruto ignored her, continuing to rummage through her bag.

"We could get this over with," He broke the silence, "Something in your past you can't live with, you could just tell me."

Annabeth scoffed.

"Haunting me. This coming from a guy who thinks he's possessed." She retorted, sarcasm in her tone.

"I prayed for vengeance—I got it." Naruto said, "You, by what you're telling me, are trying to help 'demigods' while having to fight a war caused by some guy named Lincoln—"

"Luke." Annabeth corrected.

"What. Ever." Naruto rolled his eyes, "Seems to me you're trying to serve penance."

"Penance?"

Naruto held up a small object, and showed it to the girl.

It was an old faded photo, depicting a smaller, and younger Annabeth, along with one sandy blonde boy, and a freckled black haired girl.

He pointed at the photo, specifically the only boy in the photograph.

"This Luke?" Naruto asked, turning his gaze to the object in his hand, "He looks like a Luke to me."

Annabeth's silence only served to confirm his question.

Naruto looked down and proceeded to shuffle through more photos.

"He's the guy who started this 'war' of yours, right?" Naruto asked, "Probably killed a lot of 'demigods' too," He said, his eyes scanning each photograph in his hands.

The girl stayed silent, her head down.

"Mmm, yeah; we're not so different, you and I." Naruto stated, before he held up another photo, this one depicting Luke, Annabeth, and the black haired girl laughing while sitting around a campfire.

"You feel bad for the dead in Luke's wake, the people he's killed, and the kids he recruited, you feel responsible for his actions," The whiskered blonde said, "I don't feel anything."

Annabeth looked back up at the blonde, her grey eyes staring at his cerulean.

"If that were true, you would have killed me by now."

Naruto stared back.

The daughter of wisdom rose her eyebrow, "Are you really telling me that you're not the least bit curious on what's going out there?" She genuinely asked, "You hunted those demigods down, why?"

"They spilled innocent blood." Naruto replied.

"That's why _we_ need to stop them." Annabeth said, emphasizing the word.

"We?"

"You involved yourself in this the moment you started hunting down Luke's soldiers, the demigods from last night." She stated cooly.

"Luke wants to overthrow the gods from their thrones, and he has an army to back him up, and they're outfitted with military-grade weapons, such as RPG's and assault rifles, coupled with celestial bronze weaponry, you're not interested in how these things are connected?"

Annabeth sighed.

"I know that the big picture is lost on you, but Luke has someone arming them, while he unites, and recruits more demigods to his cause, and that should concern us both." She said sternly.

"I said, I'm not what you are." Naruto cut her off.

"You are!" She argued, "And you even said seconds ago, that we aren't that different."

She sighed deeply.

"Luke won't stop until he reaches his goal, by then and until a lot of people are dead—"

"Or they are."

"And who knows what equipment they stole from the lab in east Brooklyn—"

"Wait." Naruto interrupted, and leaned forward, now looking _very_ interested, "What'd you say?"

"Momentum Alternative Energy Lab," Annabeth recalled, "Printout right there in your hands," She inclined her head towards the other file Naruto was holding.

"That's the only lead I have for where they stole a weapon from…" Annabeth said, her expression changing to mild confusion.

"Rumors say there's a monster inhabiting the lab after it shut down years ago—"

Naruto gave a growl and threw the files back in the bag and stood up, a dark look on his face.

"Wait, does that mean something to you?" Annabeth asked, looking startled after the whiskered blonde's sudden aggressive action. She widened her eyes when Naruto reached for a duct tape, and pulled it, before going towards her.

"Naruto-!?"

"Mmmph!" She tried to give a shout but the strong tape stopped her.

Naruto placed the duct tape on a container, before turning his back on the girl, and leaving the small room, shoving the chair away as he did.

Annabeth watched from the small glasses at the side of the office, watching the blonde exit the auto-body shop from the metal door.

The girl furiously struggled against the wires that the boy used to tie her with new vigor. Reaching from her shirt sleeve, the girl inwardly cheered when she felt the grip of a dagger. Pulling the blade out of her sleeve, the girl quickly went to work with cutting her bonds, struggling as her fractured arms limited her movement.

After a few more seconds, a snap was heard, and Annabeth broke free, hissing in slight pain at the soreness from her injured arms. Reaching to her mouth, the demigoddess ripped the tape off her face.

Wasting no time, the girl stood up, and ran after the enigmatic blonde.

* * *

Just as Annabeth kicked open the door, a powerful, mechanical roar was heard, and the girl saw Naruto's Charger driving away.

Cries, and howls were heard, and the girl paled.

Running towards a nearby motorcycle, (which thankfully still had keys slotted in) Annabeth brought the bike to life, and chased after the speeding Charger, just as hellhounds appeared.

She swerved from left to right, clearly inexperienced at handling the vehicle, but she pursed the black muscle car relentlessly, even if she did almost hit a car or two.

From behind her, animalistic growls were heard. Annabeth briefly glanced at the side window, and widened her eyes when three hellhounds were at her tail, their menacing snarls set in place. She revved the motorcycle, and accelerated.

As they reached a small tunnel, the daughter of Athena came close to the Charger, just nearing the back of the vehicle.

Regrettably, the girl decided to take a page out of Percy's book.

Annabeth jumped.

And thankfully landed on the roof of the car while the motorcycle she previously rode skidded away.

She looked back.

The hellhounds were gone.

Before she could even feel relief, howls, and growls were heard from the distance, and the hellhounds, previously thought to have disappeared, jumped in the front of the tunnel, blocking the whiskered blonde's way.

Naruto roared, and his eyes changed to a burning shade once more, as the engine burst in a flurry of fire, the same time the hellhounds jumped in front of the vehicle.

The Underworldian hounds were incinerated on the spot.

Annabeth shielded her eyes as golden dust, and wisps of fire blew her way.

The Charger swerved to the right, and Annabeth was not quick enough to hold on.

She landed harshly on the pavement, gasping as a jolt of pain spread around her body.

Slowly, the girl stood up, albeit shakily, watching as the now burning Charger drove away.

* * *

"We sure this the place?"

A blonde, grey eyed boy inspected the sign that was held up as they walked through, a silent, metallic hallway.

"… 'Momentum Alternative Labs'. Yeah, this is it, Beckendorf." Malcom regarded his companion with an affirmative look.

His companion, a dark-skinned, muscled teenager whistled as he looked around the various computers, and broken monitors around him.

"If we weren't on a quest right now, I would have looted this place for its tech." Beckendorf silently said.

"Maybe when we're done. I'm interested in what kind of things they did here." Malcom muttered in agreement.

The two demigods soon stumbled upon a room, which looked mostly cleaned, though dust still accumulated on the monitors that were spread on one table. In the middle was a small container that was connected to the ceiling, wires jutting out in the back, seemingly connected with the monitors that were on the table, and others on the ground, broken.

Malcom looked at the container with curiosity, "What is that?"

His quest companion walked towards the small unit, and checked it, going around the container, inspecting every corner.

"Looks to be a small containment unit." He suggested, walking over to the son of Athena.

Before the grey eyed blonde could reply, a roar from the hallways froze the two demigods.

"Me smell food!"

A door smashed open to the left, and the two demigods quickly avoided the oncoming debris.

From the darkness, a lumbering figure stomped into the room, a gaint mace in hand as its lone round eye stared at the two children of the gods.

"Meat!" The cyclops licked its lips, grinning as it slowly lumbered towards them.

Beckendorf held a bronze crossbow with both hands, and readied it, aiming at the monster that made its way towards them.

"Aim for the eye!" Malcom advised, holding a weapon of his own, a celestial bronze sword.

The son of Hephaestus took the suggestion and carefully aimed, pulling the trigger, the arrow bolted from its position the cyclops' shoulder, missing its preferred target.

"Ow!"

Malcom acted quickly, stabbing the monster in the calf, sending it kneeling with an injured leg.

"That hurt! Bad meat!" The cyclops wailed in pain.

The son of Athena grunted, and twisted the weapon, earning more cries of pain from the monster.

"Beckendorf, now!"

Charles silently nodded, and breathed deeply, carefully, he aimed.

And pulled the trigger.

The arrow bolted once again, and successfully struck the lone round eye. Malcom wasted no time and took his sword out of the monster's leg, and beheaded it before it could react.

The headless cyclops twitched, before crashing down on the ground, disintegrating into golden dust as it did.

The demigods sighed in relief.

Before a beep from a monitor caught there attention.

"What was that?"

Behind them, the monitor lit up, with a blue 3D layout of the container, glowing red with a large text that read—

"Core Activated…" Beckendorf muttered in horror.

"That… doesn't look good…" Malcom whispered.

Beckendorf nodded in agreement, and quickly rushed over to the computer, his hands typing away on the keyboard.

"How much time do we have left?" Malcom asked worriedly, his eyes darting everywhere, in case of another monster.

"Don't know," The son of Hephaestus said honestly, "Five minutes, maybe three? It doesn't say."

The son of Athena gulped, and looked around the room.

A cold, chill ran suddenly ran down the demigod's spine.

"… Did you feel that?"

Beckendorf looked at his quest companion in confusion, "Feel what?" He's eyes widened when a misty, ghostly figure materialized behind the son of Athena.

"Look out!"

Malcom gave him a confused look.

"Wha—"

It was too late, a ghost-like force grabbed the blonde, and threw him across the room, the demigod impacting the wall harshly.

The son of Hephaestus cursed, and quickly grabbed his celestial bronze crossbow, only for the same ghostly figure to shove him aside.

Beckendorf groaned, and shakily stood up, his hand gripping his weapon tightly as for it to not slip away from his fingers.

In front of him, was a spirit-like figure of a middle aged man, his clothing was torn, and his face was mattered with scars, with his skin and suit being a muddy brown.

" _You demigod brats had to interfere…"_ The spirit hissed in anger, slowly stalking towards the son of Hephaestus.

Beckendorf moved out of the way as the spirit tried to charge at him, quickly aiming his crossbow at a few pipes, the demigod pulled trigger, and the arrow shot out of its position, hitting the pipes, causing misty air to burst out.

By the time the mist dissipated, the spirit was gone.

In the ghost-like figure's place, was white snakes.

Charles briefly questioned about the sudden appearance of the slithering reptiles but decided against it, opting to checking on his quest partner.

Just as he was about to reach the groaning demigod, the son of Hephaestus gave a shout, when the spirit appeared once more, striking the dark-skinned demigod with a metal box, shoving him inside a container.

"Beckendorf!"

Malcom shouted as he stood up, watching in helplessness as the ghostly entity locked the door to the container, sealing it shut with the dark-skinned teenager inside it.

The spirit turned and looked at the son of Athena who had his weapon up.

"We can help you." Malcom pleaded.

" _No."_ The entity refused, _"You can't."_

It disappeared once again, leaving behind slithering, white snakes like before.

The monitor behind the demigod suddenly beeped rapidly, flashing red and blue, as another text popped up.

'REACTOR CORE CIRITCAL'

Malcom ignored this, and quickly rushed to the metal container that held Beckendorf, grabbing the valve and tried to open it. His efforts were futile, no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't budge.

Beckendorf widened his eyes, and glanced back at Malcom, "Behind you!" He warned him.

The son of Athena turned his head to look back, and saw the spirit typing away on the monitor. The entity noticed the demigod, and stopped what it was doing, slowly walking towards Malcom, who backed away, his blade ready in hand.

As the spirit made his way towards the demigod, his form slightly changed, his hands forming to a snake-like appendage, as his eyes turned yellow with slits.

" _I won't go back."_ The spirit said, _"Not until I find that bastard who did this to me."_ He hissed, gesturing towards himself.

" _But I'll kill you all first."_

"You escaped the Underworld?"

" _It was hell in there,"_ The spirit barked, his form reverting back to a human's.

Malcom quickly slashed at the entity, but the spirit backhanded the weapon with its hand, which changed to back to a snake's tail, before reverting back to a normal hand.

The celestial bronze landed on the ground.

The son of Athena tried to back away, only for his back to hit the wall behind him, he watched in fear, turning his head to the side as the spirit slowly brought his arm towards him.

Only for a gloved hand to stop the spirit.

The entity turned his head to the offending appendage in shock, as the newcomer moved to face him, revealing to be a whiskered, blonde teen wearing what looked to be a racer's jacket.

The two demigods, and one spirit stared at the whiskered blonde in surprise and shock, stunned at his sudden appearance.

The newcomer's other arm gripped the spirit's neck with no harm, and lifted the entity up with ease as he growled, his eyes turning to a burning orange, color.

The entity grasped the whiskered blonde's arm, trying desperately to break free of the strong grip. It stared at the newcomer's fiery eyes with anger, and hostility.

" _What are you?!"_ It hissed, eyes turning back to yellow with black slits.

Instead of answering, the blonde snarled, and roared, his voice sounding demonic, and animalistic as his skin burned in a burst of fire, leaving a flaming skull in place, his now, orange orbs staring menacingly back at the spirit's black slits for irises.

The flaming skeleton forced the spirit to kneel on the ground as he growled.

The two demigods were in shock at the whiskered blonde's transformation, Malcom and Beckendorf staring at the burning skeleton in silence.

"Yeah," Malcom agreed with the spirit, "What are you?!"

The son of Athena promptly shut his mouth, when the skeleton's flaming skull glanced at him.

"Malcom, get me out of here!" Beckendorf shouted.

The grey eyed demigod nodded quickly, and ran towards the containment unit, grabbing the valve tightly, he tried once more to open it, with no avail.

"It's stuck!" Malcom said.

Meanwhile, the burning skeleton brought his gloved hand up as his other arm gripped the spirit's neck, an orb of fire within his palm.

The son of Athena tried to push the valve with all his might, with no succession.

"Malcom?!" A familiar, and feminine voice shouted at the side.

The demigod glanced, and widened his eyes when he saw Annabeth at the entrance of the room, holding her other arm as she walked towards him.

Rushing towards her half-brother, the two children of Athena grabbed the valve, and pushed it hard, a sense of satisfaction and relief going down them when the door opened, releasing the son of Hephaestus.

Beckendorf thanked the two, and ran towards the monitor in a hurry, before typing away at the keyboard.

"What's happening?" Annabeth asked.

"Reactor's gonna blow, we need to turn it off." Charles informed her, sweat dripping down his face as he focused on the computer in front of him.

A dark growl caught Annabeth and Malcom's attention.

The two watched in horror, as the flaming skeleton brought his hand down on the spirit's face.

The spirit wailed in agony as the fiery ball made contact, incinerating him, banishing him to Hades' realm.

Annabeth looked away as the spirit burned.

A succession of beeps made the demigod, and demigoddess turn their heads towards Beckendorf, who sighed in relief, before turning towards them with a grin.

"It's done." He assured them.

The three teens looked to the side as the sounds of footsteps echoed in the room, watching in silence as the burning skeleton walked away from them, briefly glancing at them with his flaming orbs.

He suddenly stopped, just near the entrance when a photo caught his attention.

The skull's eye holes narrowed, looking at the photograph, specifically at a pale man with dark hair.

The demigods watched as the flaming being grabbed the photograph in confusion, before the skeleton walked towards the entrance, leaving the shocked three teens.

Charles eyes narrowed, before grabbing his crossbow, preparing to chase after the newcomer.

"Wait!" Only for Annabeth to stop him.

"Don't." She shook her head at him, prompting Malcom to look at her.

The girl noticed her fellow demigod's looks, and sighed tiredly.

"I'll explain at camp."

* * *

 **Review! Constructive criticism is also good, give suggestions, advice, etc. Anything really.**

 **If you're here to flame or just bad mouth me in general... do it. Won't really matter, but if you want to, sure.**

 **See ya.**


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